It's no longer an it's...

Did I Mention....

We are buying our first home!!!! I'm so excited, you have no idea...or maybe you do. I have been researching buying a condo/home for the past two years, and I can't believe we are finally in a position to be able to do it. It was well worth the wait because its such a great time to buy, we were able to find a beautiful home in Daybreak (South Jordan), for much less than it would have been if the market were up. We are buying it from the bank as a short sale, which means it was foreclosed on and they are selling it for less than was owed on it, so we're walking into instant equity. It has been a little longer process than normal because we are getting it from a bank, but it looks like it will be definitely worth it. Its 3,250 square feet, which is HUGE for our first home. Especially compared to the 425 square foot apartment we spent the first two and a half years of marriage in at the University Village. It has a full unfinished basement that we can finish up one day when we need it, but for now we will be just fine using it as storage. Its three bedrooms, 2 bath with a big bonus room over the garage. We don't know what were going to do with the bonus room other than put our big ol' love sac in there! We had an inspector check it out and he was EXTREMELY positive about it. He said he on a scale of 1-10 he would give it a 9.8 and the minor flaws he found are things we can fix for almost no cost. The plan is to close on March 11th, so we should be able to move in that weekend. Wayne hates packing, which is just fine because I'm so pumped I don't mind packing everything, just as long as he will haul it all.

I am so excited to live in Daybreak too! I've had my eye on this development for a couple of years. It reminds me a lot of the neighborhoods back in Virginia that I absolutely love. I just love all the fun looking houses, parks, sand volleyball courts, basketball courts, pools, tennis courts, lake, schools, and of course the new TEMPLE. Its just down the street! I also like the idea of not having a huge yard to care for. I grew up taking care of my parents GINORMOUS yard and planters and garden, and I swore I would never have one of those beasts. The only downside is that we don't have room for a tramp, that has always been a dream of mine! If you want to find out more about Daybreak, check out their website - www.daybreakutah.com

Here are some pictures of the house now, decorating
it will be fun but I'll need lots of help :)

I've been glued to HGTV whenever I'm home alone.
(Wayne doesn't appreciate it as much as I do.)

Living Room

(I love that there is tile that runs from the front door to the kitchen so the carpet won't gets all roughed up.)

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Bedroom #2

(This will be baby's bedroom, its right next to the Master Bedroom)

Bedroom #3

500 Sqft Bonus Room

Dear Lexa

The other day I randomly came across a girls blog that I know through other friends, but I've never actually met her. I read something on one of her posts that made me feel kind of bad that she felt that way, and I've been thinking about it all week and what I would say to her if she were a close friend. I was bored today so I typed it up and now I'm going to share it with you. Not really sure why, but I've already typed it so why not ehh. Its really long, so unless you've got a lot of time you might not want to read it. Let me know what you think and what your thoughts are on the subject please. Thanks.

Oh yea, her name isn't really Lexa.

Dear Lexa,

I read the entry on your blog where you talked about wanting to get a nose job, and that you felt like you needed to do it in order to learn to really love yourself, because liking the way you look is a crucial part of loving yourself. I just had a few thoughts about that I wanted to share with you. First off, I think you are a beautiful person; I am solely speaking about your physical appearance, because I don’t know any more than that. In my mind I don’t see why you feel like you need to change your appearance. Now don’t get me wrong, I like you have things about my own appearance that I have either wanted to change or want to change now. That is something that pretty much every woman deals with, even the most beautiful, gorgeous person you can think of, still has those same issues. In the past few years of my life I’ve come to realize a few things and those are what I want to share with you. You mentioned the saying that is quoted quite often, “In order to love someone else, you must first love yourself”. I kind of agree with that saying, but I think it is more like, “In order to love someone else, and let them love you, you must not HATE yourself”. At least for me, that is something I had to do before I would believe that I was worth loving. Luckily this change in my life happened right before I met my husband. Okay, I know it wasn’t luck. I have never felt Heavenly Father’s hand in my life as much as I did during that time in my life, when I met Wayne and during our courtship.

Any way, about the nose job, I just don’t think that it will change your life, or the way you feel about yourself as much as you think it will. Truly loving yourself means accepting yourself for who you are, and who you can become. Knowing that you are a daughter of God that loves you more than you will ever know. He made you the way you are for a purpose and a reason. In his eyes you are beautiful, and there isn’t anything about your physical appearance that you could change that would make him love you more, because he already loves you as much as he can, and that is so much more than we can even comprehend. Those around you that love you, friends and family, they don’t love you because of the way you look. They love you for so much more than that. Think about all those you love, why do you love them? Is it because they are supermodels or have been voted the most gorgeous person in the world? I don’t think so; it’s because they know you and are there for you and would do anything for you. If you only “love” someone for their appearance, then that is NOT love. It’s nothing close to love, its selfishness and it won’t last. I have learned this concept so much more since I’ve been married. The more I get to know and love my husband, the more I am attracted to him physically. He is such a selfless, patient, fun person. His inner qualities mixed with the experiences we have together make him more physically attractive to me. He is a beautiful person on the inside and that radiates through and appears on the outside. It makes me want to be a better person, a better wife.

I also know a girl that I met in college that seriously is the nicest, most Christlike person I’ve ever met. When I look at her in person and in pictures I can see that inner beauty shine through her outward appearance. She is so beautiful, seriously in my eyes is the most beautiful person I know. I’m sure if someone that was wrapped up in worldly things compared a picture of her to a beautiful actress they would think the actress was more beautiful, because they are only looking on the outside. That’s the thing about the world…They are wrong. Their idea of what is beautiful and what is important is WRONG! It doesn’t matter what we do to change ourselves, to try and fit into what they world sees as valuable, we will never be good enough. They are looking for flaws, looking for reasons to hate you. That’s why it’s so important that we don’t let the world tell us what is beautiful, or what’s important, because they honestly don’t know. I mean that with my whole soul, they have no idea what beauty is.

When I think of beauty, I think of the Savior and the scripture Isaiah 53:2 “For he shall grow up before him as a tender ^aplant, and as a ^broot out of a ^cdry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no ^dbeauty that we should desire him.” There is not beauty that we could desire of him, nothing that could be changed because he is perfect, and through him we can be perfect to, and that is real beauty, being like our Savior, not looking like a Supermodel. I am so grateful for the gospel, and the knowledge that I have of a Heavenly Father and an Elder Brother Jesus Christ that love me for who I am, and for who they know I can one day be. What a blessing that has been in my life. It is something that I have to be continually reminded of, because the world and Satan, who is the leader of the world on their ideas, are always telling us different. That we’re not good enough and that we will never be good enough. But they are wrong, and I’m so glad I know that.

LIL' UTES

On Saturday Wayne and I, Rick and his two boys Jackson and Carson went to the University of Utah vs New Mexico basketball game. It was a pretty exciting game and we ended up winning by one point. I had to post this video of my nephew Carson, he is not quite one and a half. I laughed so hard while he was doing this, because usually out in crowds he's pretty shy. Its funny because we went to the Utah/BYU game on Tuesday and he just sat quietly in his chair watching the game very intently. Then for the first half of the game on Saturday he sat on my lap doing the same thing. Then he and his bro went and sat in the seats in front of us and he just busted out of his shell and started really getting into it!


My favorite part is when the crowd spells out U-T-A-H and he throws his right arm up at the perfect times.

They both cheered so hard, they didn't even get to see the outcome of the game. This is what they looked like when the 4th quarter rolled around.


My family really knows how to train these little fans, on both sides of the coin. If you try to get my niece say, "GO UTES", she screams (and I mean SCREAMS) "GO COUGARS!!!".

In case you haven't heard...

But if you've seen or talked to my Grandma Ruth in the last few weeks, you have. (She's the best word - getter - out - there I know:)

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!

August 4th is the due date. I'll let you know when we know if its a boy or a girl. It's funny because when I talk about "it" I say she and Wayne calls it the little guy, so we have to be sure to refer to it as "the little one". (Calling my baby IT just doesn't seem right. :) We'll be happy with either, but it will be exciting to see what we're having. I've already been told, "You're having a girl, I can just tell", and "I'm pretty sure you're having a Boy". Ha ha. Someone is going to be wrong.

Here's what Wayne sent out to his family to announce the news!

Suga Suga , da da da da da da

Can you believe I rode in a CAR over 3,500 miles for this?????

Oh I can!!! The trip was definitely worth it! I was just hoping that it was be a good game, I didn't know my wildest dreams would come true!!! It was such a fun game to be at, especially during the 1st quarter. I've never been so proud to be a UTE fan!

My brothers Rick and Ryan and I packed in the car around 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon and got to Dallas, TX around 9:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. I only drove about an hour from 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. and pretty much the rest of the time I watched the Office. (I only slept about an hour) By the end of the trip Rick was getting jealous that I was spending more time with Dwight than talking with him. It sure made the trip more bearable though. So we spent Thursday trying to recover from our drive and getting ready for the rest of the journey. Friday morning we left Dallas at 5:00 a.m. to make our 8 hour journey to New Orleans. I slept the first four, so that wasn't bad at all.

Here are some pictures of the swamps coming into New Orleans. It was weird because later on the roads were build over the canal on big cement pillars and then there was land/swamp on both sides.
When we first got to N.O. we had lunch with ours Aunt/Uncle & Cousins; Greg, Betty, Lexi, Lance, Colby & Tira. That was way fun to have them down there to cheer on the UTES with us. Here we all are at a Cajun Restaurant. It was packed with Alabama Fans that sang a chant that told us they were going to beat the "Hell out of us".


I really wanted to live up my experience there so I ordered Blackened Alligator Pasta. It was pretty good, pretty greasy. I felt like I was standing up for all those people who have been eaten or attacked by a Gator! Lexi really wanted to try the frog legs, so Greg ordered them for her, Holy cow though we didn't expect them to be so big. I just couldn't bring myself to try it, but good for everyone else who did! I wish I had a picture of Lexi's face while she ate it.


Then we spent a couple of hours walking around the city. We were so lucky to walk a couple of blocks of Bourbon Street. Yuck, we didn't go far enough into it to see too much riskay business, but it literally STANK!! It smelled like a combination of B.O., Poop, urine, alcohol and who knows what else. I couldn't stand it very long, but the minute we got out on a different road the smell went away.

But yea, I'm pretty sure there is no reason for me to go back to New Orleans unless we play in the Sugar Bowl again.

Our seats at the game were awesome. I've never had such a great view at a football game, and watched so intently. Here are some pictures of the game and what not...

Walking up to the Super Dome

Co-Worker Dari & I in our Get-Ups
"The Girls" - We cheered our little hearts out! Betty and I had the best Cheer. It worked both times we used it. Bama didn't score in when they were in the Red Zone both times. "Push em back, push em back, waaaay Back!". So good.

With about ten minutes left in the game, Alabama fans had left and it was easy to see who were Ute fans then.

Cool Indian Guy after the game.

After the game we drove an hour to Baton Rouge and stayed the night. We got up early to make our journey home. We drove all the way through, hitting a snow storm in New Mexico that set our pace back. We were in the car for 35 hours by the time we made it back to Salt Lake. Luckily I was able to talk Rick into stopping in Amarillo, TX to let us eat at our Dad's favorite steak house, THE BIG TEXAN. That was definitely the highlight of the trip home. We were able to witness a guy trying to eat a 72 oz, yes 72 OUNCE steak with side dishes in under an hour. If he did it, he got the meal free. If he didn't, it cost him $72.00. Yea, he DIDN'T finish it. He got about 2/3 of the way through the steak, and hadn't even touched the sides. I think it was because of the big mug of beer he drank with it. Think of all the room that took up in his stomach. But I guess you might need to be drunk to think you could eat all that...in one day, let alone one hour! Good times.

The display steak, yes its real. (I poked it)
See the dude to the left, chowing down, that's him.

Well we had a great trip, and it was definitely worth it. Thanks for a great football season UTES! Can't wait till next year. Now what am I going to post about??? Its a mystery.

Not your typical Christmas Tree

This year I was getting the urge to get our first official Christmas tree, but I never got around to it. So when I finally got to putting up our decorations, I decided to create our Christmas tree. I was pretty pleased with what I came up with. Looking into our house, you can't tell its not really a Christmas Tree.

Where did we get a green guitar you may be wondering. Wayne had it custom made for him before he went home from his mission in Chile. Her name is Constanza ;) She looks really cool, but is third on our list of guitars when it comes to sound. I decided it was her time shine!

We wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Oh did I tell you I'm making the 27 hours to...and 27 hours fro road trip to the Sugar Bowl with two of my brothers! I'll be sure to post on that, it should be a real adventure. (That's if I make it back alive) And no, Wayne isn't coming along...he can't hack it! But thats okay because he took his last final this morning and we'll officially be leaving the world of poor college students...I guess we'll just be poor normal people:) hee hee